October 22 Letter

Mon Oct 22, 2012
Dear Family!
Another week has flown by!  October is almost finished.  And that scares me!  The time is going too fast and I don’t know the language well enough yet!  Transfers just seem to fly by.  Well I’m only in my third, but it’s going fast.  And I don’t know if I’ll still be with Elder Sofele next transfer . . . my fate for this next transfer is so uncertain.  But one thing is certain.  I will still be on my mission. :)

It was nice to be able to e-mail you guys last week!  I hope I’m able to get some valuable information out.  How about that picture!  Ha HA!  Isn’t this place awesome?!  Ha ha I am so blessed to be here.
It has been a pretty great week.  We had zone conference last week which was awesome.  We only got to do proselyting Wed-Saturday but still got a bunch of good lessons in.  We’ve started teaching this SUPER cute little girl and her mom, and they are totally going to be baptized.  The mom wants it and we will eventually get the father too.  But this little girl is super cute.  I love it. :)

Well Dad, ha ha once again things don’t always go according to plans. :) We didn’t do the baptisms on Saturday.  We had them all interviewed and everything.  But turned out that they decided to show conference Sat. Sun. so no go on the baptism.  Also they couldn’t find a ride into Weno (they wanted to both be baptized there because that’s where their families live and they wanted them to come).  So we’ve moved them to this weekend. 

So on Saturday we were supposed to watch conference.  But because of a bit of osukosuk (looks like he’s plugging in Chuukese for English - a good sign :) ) with the branch president not being there and equipment missing, it didn’t happen.  We were pretty bummed.  But we got a good day of proselyting in AND (!) had cake (Birthday cake!) at Seramino’s house that night!  Oh man cake is so wonderful . . . :) So good. 

But on Sunday we got to watch some conference.  We watched the Sunday morning session and priesthood session.  It was all translated into Chuukese so sadly I didn’t understand much.  But!  It gave me such an appreciation and gratitude to God that I know English and that the talks are given in English.  No translation needed.  So I can really understand the emotion and feeling behind the words.  I’m so glad that I already understand and know English.  In learning Chuukese it has really opened my eyes to how complex and unorganized English is.  So glad I already know it.  I hope I can see the full conference in English soon. 

Chuukese . . . Man I want to know it so badly.  I must say though, that it is so cool to feel the spirit while I am testifying in Chuukese.  The past two times we have taught this woman in her 20's, Menora, when I have testified at the end, I have felt the spirit come in so strongly and all of the words just flow from my mouth in Chuukese.  Oh man it is so cool to feel Heavenly Father helping me. 
And answering my prayers!  Today, this morning I was feeling a little weak and tired and my stomach was in knots.  I was worried that it was the beginnings of something awful.  So I prayed to feel better and to not be sick.  I feel great now! :) Another one, our water pump has been fussy lately, even with super sunny days.  So it was sunny today, and after finishing my wash, I went inside and wanted to fill our buckets with clean water, because once again, we were almost out.  Before I flipped on the pump I said a quick prayer that it would work.  And it started right up.  So great. :) I know that Heavenly Father knows us and answers our prayers.  Yours and mine. :)
 
Well family I think I’m going to wrap this one up.  Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts and letters.  I enjoy the decorated envelopes. :) Thanks kids. :) I love you guys so much.  I hope you are all doing well.  Keep up the good work.  Keep praying. :)
I love you guys!
Love,
Elder Aaron Lane Walters

October 15 Letter

Note: Aaron's current assignment is on the island of Romanum.  Interestingly, there is no electricity on this island, other than from solar panels, etc.  So most of his communication (except for this e-mail) has been through regular mail.  Aaron took this picture of his house (right next to the church) when he was first arriving on the island.

 

My Family!

Haha! Wow so much has happened its awesome! Grandma and Grandpa! I'm so excited for you guys. :) That is so wonderful. Senior missionaries are so great. I'm so glad that you get to do it. ( and grandma thank you so much for your letters. :) They make me happy. :) ) (Congrats to Denise too! That's exciting. I got your letter too. :) )

Oh man the change in age! When I found out last Sunday night I was so extremely excited. My thoughts went straight to all of my friends who are suddenly available to go! Oh man so awesome. They have been in my prayers so they will know what Heavenly Father wants them to do right now. And all of my cousins! Oh man the numbers will increase in our family soon! So awesome. :) There are going to be so many more missionaries now. Heavenly Father is really accelerating the work right now. So awesome. I pray for you all. :)

Speaking of accelerating the work! I will have my first two baptisms this Saturday (20th)! We met Patrick the first day I got to Romanum. So sweet. JS is awesome too. Its been so fun teaching them. 

Elder Sofele, my new companion, is so great! He has helped me so much with the language. Mostly because he forces me to teach, and its awesome! Heavenly father has helped me out so much. I have grown so much in the language in the past 3 weeks. I can really understand a lot more and I can work my way through lessons. But holy cow have so much farther to go. Its fun though!

Romanum is awesome! I attached a picture of arriving to my new home. That's my little house on the beach. :) SO awesome. I have eaten a LOT of fish. So awesome! The members fish a lot and always give us one. I love it. :)

Zone conference today was super great. President Mecham is so great.

I have sent out a couple letters so be looking for  those! Thank you so much! I love you guys so much. I have such a great family. I am doing really well here. Thank you so much for you prayers. :) I need it. And I feel them. :) I love you all so much! This work is awesome and it is really accelerating. I love you all so much!

Family I love you. :)

Love, Elder Walters